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Chapter 8: Witnessing

Then at the next painting he stood for a few minutes, looked deeply, and said, “I think this too is Picasso.”

The critic said, “Sorry sir, this is just a mirror. You are looking at yourself in it.”

He was an ugly man - it may have looked like Picasso to him, a painting of Picasso’s, a distortion.

In the I Ching you will find a mirror. If Buddha reads the I Ching it is going to be totally different, because the mirror will show Buddha. If Lao Tzu reads the I Ching, it will show Lao Tzu. If you read, of course you will see yourself. You can see only your face.

So don’t be bothered. Become a buddha, then it will be worth looking at the mirror. But no buddha bothers to look at the mirror. This is the puzzle. No buddha bothers to look in the mirror because deep down he knows his own being so well, so intensely, that there is no need for a mirror to know it. You need a mirror - but then the mirror simply shows you. And you go on befooling yourself. Whatsoever you want to read you will read, and you will throw the responsibility on the I Ching.

Once Mulla Nasruddin didn’t go to the office. In the evening he came to see me and he was very happy, because he had slept in bed the whole day - not a care in the world.

I asked, “Nasruddin, why have you taken a holiday today?”

He said, “Couldn’t help it. I tossed a coin in the morning to see whether to go to the office or not - if it came down heads I had to go, if it came down tails I could enjoy a holiday.”

So I asked, “It came down tails and you enjoyed a holiday?”

He said, “Yes, but I had to toss it ten times, then it came to tails.”

This is what is happening. I Ching, tarot cards, whatsoever - this is what is happening. Whatsoever you want to do, you do it, but why throw responsibility on the poor I Ching? Just be responsible and do it. These are tricks.

Yes, I say everything is contained in everything. Even in the I Ching the whole universe is contained. Nothing otherwise is possible. This is how existence is. In each part the total is contained, the whole is contained. Anywhere you move, you move into the whole, but how you will read it depends on your understanding.

So I’m not concerned with I Chings, I am concerned with you and your understanding. Try to grow into it. Don’t waste your time with anything else. Life is really short and much has to be done. Don’t fool around.